Fragile Things
by soulfulsnows
Summary: This is the story of how Marlene McKinnon realised her true place in the world, how Sirius Black finally grew up, and how Lily Evans finally listened to her heart. It is the story of the first war, and how it changed the characters we love.


**A/N: While this is a Marlius centric story, it will have almost equal amounts of Jily, and it will focus singularly on most of the characters, from Peter Pettigrew to Emmeline Vance. So if you've come to read a story solely about Marlene and Sirius that focuses only on their romance, completely disregarding any other character, you should probably not read this one. This story will, of course, focus on that relationship a fair amount, but it is not the story of an epic Marlius romance. **

**More accurately, this will, to some extend, be a story of the bumpy ride that I imagine the Marlius ship to be, but it will also be the story of the first war and how it affected the Maraduer era characters individually. **

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I've got ninety nine original ideas but this ain't mine. All hail the Queen, also known as J.K Rowling. Also, I don't have nearly ninety nine original ideas, so a shout out to Neil Gaiman and Hugo might be in order.**

* * *

><p>"Come on, Lene." Alice Longbottom said to the brunette witch over her shoulder. "Benjy is setting up the camera."<p>

Marlene McKinnon contemplated giving another speech on her rather unfortunate past with photographs, but decided against the idea – even now, she could play out all the possible scenarios relating to the argument, and the only single one in which Alice lost involved her getting hit on the head by a comet, which, she hated to admit, was a bit of a long shot. Resigning, she drowned the golden liquid in her goblet in one gulp, and propped herself up, walking over to the corner of the room where people were settling into their positions as Benjy Fenwick shouted directions at them, in an attempt to fit them all into the frame.

"I don't see the point of this." Moody complained as Benjy told him to move a bit further back. "It's not like it's a full house-"

"When is it a full house?" Fabian interrupted. "Come on, Mad Eye. Don't be grumpy – It was a good night, nothing wrong with making it eternal. Who knows how many more of those we have left?"

For a split second, the room was silent. Fabian was right – it had been a good night. Ted and Andy had been successfully moved to a safe location without any injuries or casualties, and while it might not have been an exact victory, it was a mission filed under success, and in perspective, it was, as Fabian said, a good night for the Order.

Soon, Benjy had managed to fit them all into the frame, and Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black, who'd been helping Ted and Andy settle in, had made it in time and settled into their places.

"Ten seconds." Benjy informed the group as he walked over to join them, and surely enough, ten seconds later, the flash of the camera went off, capturing the image of a group of people smiling, laughing, waving or toasting at the camera. For that one eternal moment, everything seemed alright.

But even wizarding photography, despite all its wonders, is unable to capture the truth hidden behind the moment it captures. So while it might have shown a cheerful Dorcas Meadowes waving at the camera, it did not show the fact that Dorcas had received a very vital injury in the hands of Rodolphus Lestrange only last week, and that not having fully recovered from the incident, she still had a barely noticeable limp. You could look at the miniature Sirius Black all you wanted, but the photograph still wouldn't tell you that seeing Andromeda that day reminded him of his brother, the young boy he'd walked out on all those years ago, whose death still haunted Sirius. The Elphias Doge in the frame might look cheerful as he grinned at the camera from under his hat, but you could not have been able to tell that just yesterday, he'd attended the funeral of a much beloved cousin, who'd died at the Diagon Alley raid two days before that. And the Marlene McKinnon the photography captured may look like she belonged with this group of people, but what the photograph couldn't tell you was that this had not always been the case – not by far. You would never know that there was a time the simple idea of being in the same picture frame with a McKinnon would have seemed ridiculous to most of the people within this group.

Looking at the picture, you might think that Lily and James Potter, who were holding hands as they waved at the camera, were two people who belonged together, and had always been so, but you could not possibly know that there was a time the idea of having Potter as her surname would have sent shivers through Lily's spine. And you could not know that the fate of these two people had been doomed, even then, by the young man standing right behind them. One Peter Pettigrew, who they'd long called their friend, only to have him betray the trust they placed in him.

In order to know these things, you would have to a story that dated back to almost five years ago, a time when Sirius Black felt no pangs of guilt over having walked out on Regulus, and Marlene McKinnon belonged elsewhere. A time when Lily Evans had no intention of ever holding hands with James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew was still a young boy, loyal to those who called him their friends.

It is that very story that will be told in these pages, a story of fragile things, such as friendship, trust, loyalty, love, happiness and sadness. And only when you've heard that story will you truly know all the things hidden behind that one photograph, all the pain and the sadness that lurk behind, and that fleeting concept, hope, a thing so very fragile, yet still capable of surviving even the strongest perils.


End file.
